"That's a map? I suppose if you take the orange mass to be lava, then it sort of makes sense... A hell of a lot of lava though if that's the case."
THEROS came around the corner where the rest of us were and looked over my shoulder at the map.
"Ah! You found it! Brilliant!"
We all looked back at THEROS quizzically, as though he could see something we couldn't. Looking back at the map, I tried to look at it at a new angle, by holding it out slightly further from me, but still there was nothing that immediately jumped out at me that proved it was a map. I suppose we had to trust THEROS as he was the trained cartographer. We asked THEROS to elaborate what he could make of the map that we obviously couldn't.
"Well the orange is the lava; we all know the Nether is full of the stuff. But the rest of it is a simple mistake by someone who ever made this. When you make maps, you're meant to do it all from a single level, from a single perspective."
"How do you mean? Like the same level of ground?"
"Yes pretty much. Admittedly the Nether isn't the flattest terrain to map out, but a mistake like that is pretty substantial... Someone has been mapping out the topography of the land whilst moving around over different levels. If we take the dark red bits to be hills and the dark grey to be flatter expanses at least lower than the red bits, it actually makes quite a bit of sense."
Using that system that THEROS had just described, I looked back at the map and tried to make sense of it again. It didn't work...
"But how are we meant to find anything in that? Where's this base on that map?"
"If the person who mapped this out had any sense, it should be in the centre. That's how I was taught to map things out; put the main focal point in the centre and map out the area around it."
"Do you think you could apply the coordinates we found to this then...?"
"Pretty sure, yes... It shouldn't be too hard, but I'll need some time."
"Fair enough, but we have to wait until we get back to the base camp before we can get to that. We had better check on THEXIS, and hope he's noted the routes the guards take..."
Rolling the map up and concealing it in his armour, we followed COLUS and THEROS back out of the archives back up the stairs to the first floor, checking to make sure the leader was still out cold, before continuing on to the top. THEXIS was still there, lying on his belly, presumably to reduce the chances of him being spotted, staring out across the front of the base where the guards had headed out. Nudging him on the shoulder, he didn't even turn around, or react at all, instead he continued to stare out across to the Nether.
"Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
We all seemed a little put off by this random statement, but COLUS opted for the good news first. I wish he hadn't...
"Good news is that only one team seems to be guarding the area around the base..."
"What's the bad news?"
"That one team is guarding the area around the stairs. I've been watching them long enough now to see that they don't stray any more than twenty feet from them, so using that way of getting back is a definite no-no..."
"I was afraid of that... Any suggestions about getting out?"
"Two; firstly we wait for the guards to rotate route patterns and slip out then... Alternatively, we head out across that way, back in the direction of the platform."
THEXIS pointed off to the left in the shadows where we had hidden yesterday when trying to get a good look at this place. Squinting into the distance, I could make out a very thin pathway leading up and off further to the left, before disappearing out of sight...
"It'd be too risky to wait for a route rotation... It'd have to be the first option..."
"Then we best move out now; the guards at the stairs are making their return journey before looping back. By the time we get down to the door and ready to leave, they would have turned around."
THEXIS stood up and we hurried down the stairs and headed for the door. We were cutting everything so closely; of the three guard teams we knew of, only one was visible from the base, and the other two could be anywhere. To make matters worse, we were travelling along a route which we didn't know whether it was secure or not, so we could end up bumping into the other two teams, especially if one was meant to be out searching for our camp!
Taking Amie's hand and pulling her up to the thin stone shelf that I stood on, I wobbled slightly. This was much too dangerous! COLUS was leading up ahead, taking the role of UOPETA in his absence, and so far doing a good job of it. Edging ourselves across to the far side, I let out a sigh of relief as the path widened considerably, allowing me and Amie to walk side by side. We had just ascended a thin gravel pathway which had crumbled quite hazardously as we cross it, but we had eventually reached ground that we were familiar with; up above to our right was the wooden platform we had constructed to gather the glowing stone. COLUS pointed off to the left which was the direction of the base camp, but with another large hill to scale, it was going to be awhile before we saw it, especially as we were on the lookout for the other two guard teams...
We're back at the camp and I couldn't be happier to see OROTHO and Joe! THEROS has headed back into Minecraftia to retrieve the coordinates he had left behind, and to check on UOPETA. We hadn't heard from him for some time, but we had to keep reminding ourselves that we were living triple the length of time he was...
"The rest of you rest up; if THEROS comes through for us with this map and coordinates, we could be hunting Ender Eyes tomorrow! If not, we could be heading back to the HoN Co. base to look for more information... For now, get some rest..."
That's exactly what I intended to do! Flopping onto a nearby bed, I was joined by Amie, who was equally as tired, as she was fast asleep within minutes... Tomorrow was a big day ahead of us again, whatever the outcome of THEROS and the map coordinates...
Syeonyx signing off
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